Onions: The least exotic food!
Chances are, you don’t spend much time thinking about onions. I mean, they aren’t new or exotic or anything. But I’d say the very unexoticness of them is a reason to think about them.
OK, there are lots of foods that aren’t that exotic. But is there anything less exotic than the onion? Unlike, say, potatoes and tomatoes, the onion has been known all over the world for about as far back as records go.
In China, at least back to 5000 BCE; the ancient Egyptians knew about onions and when Europeans got to the Americas, they found onions there, as well.
Some ingredients seem exotic because they are associated with certain cuisines. But onions are the most un-exotic because they are associated with just about every cuisine.
From Afghanistan (onions feature in korma and are common on kebabs) to Zimbabwe (there are onions in dovi, a popular stew), onions are everywhere.
And onions are very, very versatile. You can, of course, eat them raw. But they can also be:
- Baked
- Boiled
- Braised
- Broiled
- Caramelized (time consuming — it takes 45 minutes or so — but so good).
- Fried (with batter or without, I prefer them without as in shoestring onions)
